JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 8/19/24

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Ben Clemens

2:26

yeah Boog is great, huge fan

2:27

Joe Davis is excellent. Honestly I think there are a ton of good PBP guys doing it right now

MVP seasons

2:27

It's crazy to me that perfectly legit MVP seasons like Bryant in 2016 or even Altuve are just going to be left in the dust by about 3 people in the AL this year

Ben Clemens

2:27

yeah both Witt and Judge are just going bananas so much that Soto is barely in the race

and he's hitting .300/.432/.601 lol

Bwar

2:28

What if I told you that Bryce Harper has 5 seasons (including 2015) on Aaron Judge and leads him by.... .1. Not 1! .1! (They're both about to hit 50)

Ben Clemens

2:28

I'd believe you b/c I looked at so many silly Judge stats when I was doing the trade value series

he's just outrageous

Dan'l

2:28

What does Winn need to do in the last month to get in the convo for ROY?

Ben Clemens

2:29

kidnap Jackson Merrill and Paul Skenes and entice them to release videos declaring their retirement

Brian

2:29

Do you think the Orioles see something fixable in Trevor Rogers? On deadline day the deal was a head-scratcher... and since then it only looks worse.

Ben Clemens

2:29

I think that they definitely do

he's been omg cover your eyes awful as an O, no argument there

2:30

I'm circling around writing about the changes he's made since going to Baltimore, but it's tough when he's just getting so crushed

2:30

Thoughts on Mendoza calling on a hot Jeff McNeil to sac bunt with two on and no out in the ninth?

Ben Clemens

2:30

do not like

bringbackpologrounds

2:30

Out of Hamilton, Rafaela, Abreu, or Wong, how many become long-term starters for Boston?

Ben Clemens

2:30

I feel like it's around 2.5

2:31

I think Rafaela is the best of the bunch by a decent bit, at least in terms of likelihood of ending up as a regular

Abreu is probably gonna be a platoon guy unless he hits the top part of his distribution of outcomes, but Rafaela's defense plays both ways

Dan'l

2:31

At this point, for the sake of 2025 and beyond, shouldn't the Cards be giving Jordan Walker every chance to succeed now?? I don't get it.

Ben Clemens

2:32

I think so, yes

They're playing like the playoffs are still well within reach, but like.... it's getting late

Slew

2:32

Guardians used to be the easy answer to “who’s going to win the AL central?”, but with them playing .500 ball since the beginning of June and the Twins and the Royals making noise it’s much less clear. Who ya got?

Ben Clemens

2:33

Gimme the Twins, but to be honest, I think it's close enough between the three that I'm just picking the group with the easiest strength of schedule

Bosoxforlife

2:33

This has to be some sort of record for the worst line ever for a pitcher that got credit for the win, (3.1/9/6/6/4/1). Cooper Criswell in the 12-10 Red Sox win on Friday night which definitely supports the belief that wins are not a great way to judge a pitcher's performance.

Ben Clemens

2:33

That is..... wow

Adenolith

2:33

Any place I can go to see which pitchers are easiest to run on?

Ben Clemens

2:34

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/pitcher-running-game

Corbin Burnes by a hilarious margin

Bosoxforlife

2:35

It looks like Chris Sale is going to lose his place as the best pitcher to never win a Cy Young. It is great to see that his perseverance through injuries that could have broken him has been rewarded.

Ben Clemens

2:35

I always forget that Sale has never won a Cy because he was so dominant at his peak

he was able to cut through the distractions and snip out the competition this year, though

Dirk Funk

2:35

Do you believe the actual spread in team defense is closer to what DRS spits out (+85 to -79 in 2023) or what FRV comes up with (+44 to -47 in 2023) ??

Ben Clemens

2:36

Oh man, I actually don't have a strong answer for you here

FRV mirrors what I think, but i have not dug into the data to get a strong view of why the two are coming to such different conclusions

George

2:36

Really enjoyed Baumann's article on Jacob Young. Where do you think he fits into the 2025/2026 Nats? Stick him between Crews and Wood or 4th Outfield PR/Defensive Replacement? Somewhere in the middle pending FA over the winter?

Ben Clemens

2:37

I think it depends on how Crews develops as a defender

If he ends up being above average in center, I think you have to play him there

b/c that just opens up the ability to play a more pure bat in the corner

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